


The Gentlemans Agreement

by halestrom



Series: The Run [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU - No Hale fire, AU - Werewolves are known, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Derek POV, M/M, Mating, mild dub-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-10 23:29:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/791424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halestrom/pseuds/halestrom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Each year werewolves from around the country gather to participate in the Run, a festival dedicated to finding their mate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gentlemans Agreement

**Author's Note:**

> For those who follow it, I am still working on Switching Gears but I needed a break since I am a little bit stuck on how things are going to end there. But don't worry, it will still be finished. This doesn't have a posting schedule, but I do have a general idea of how I want it to go so it should be finished soon. There is no beta, so any mistakes are mine and mine alone.

Ever since the werewolves had become the dominant species on the planet, the Run had become a national holiday. An entire week was set aside for the Run, each of the major packs hosting a Run. The most famous was the Rominski pack in Poland, large parts of Europe flocked to that country for the week, and thousands of werewolves, and some of the remaining humans would turn out to try their luck at finding a mate. Poland was turned into one giant Run for that week, all of the participants running across any open land they could find to try and seek out that special someone. Of course, it helped that their success rate was particularly high, the rumor was if you ran in Poland, you found a mate; it was that simple for them for some reason. 

The Hales controlled the west coast, one of the oldest werewolf families around, and one of the few that still was able to boast “pure blood”. There were rumors of a descent from Hati himself, although the rumors only ever remained rumors. The town of Beacon Hills was the perfect spot, large enough to host the sheer volume of people, and surrounded by forests that stretched from their backyard all the way up into Oregon and Washington. The sheer size of the forest made it a challenge for the Chasers, but no one complained, least of all the Chosen. Adrenaline was known to do amazing things for the first mating. 

The Chasers were the stronger werewolves, the Alphas and the betas; the Chosen were the Omegas and the humans that chose to Run. Of course, just because someone was in one of the groups didn’t mean they had to choose the other group, there were enough stories of Beta and Alpha mating’s, or Beta and Beta, and even a few Alpha an Alpha pairings for people not to get riled up about Omega rights in the whole situation.

\---------------------------

Derek could hear yelling before he even got out of the car and a part of him felt like starting the car back up and leaving. As Laura had gotten older, she had gotten more headstrong, wanting to take on more responsibility, and his mother (the biggest control freak Derek ever had the privilege of knowing) disliked the idea of this. She might be getting older, but her mind was as sharp as ever. Derek often found himself between the two women, the only person in the family who didn’t care either way. The rest of the pack had been split one way or another and every time he came home he remembered why he had gone to school so far away.

Derek could still hear the fighting as he grabbed his bag, and it only got worse as he stepped into the main house, their voices raised loud enough to make him wince as he adjusted his ability to hear things. Throwing his bag into the foyer for the moment, he debated leaving and going and crashing at someone else’s house, at anyone’s house, he would even take the Argent house at this point in time. He found himself not even caring what they were fighting about right then, at least until he heard his name. 

He sighed. He knew exactly what this argument was about. He kicked his shoes off, his jacket dropping onto the bag and headed to the study, easily finding his mother and sister yelling at each other, eyes flashing. At his entrance, both of them stopped and looked at him as if they hadn’t been two seconds away from shifting a second ago. They were two peas in a pod and sometimes that only made everything worse. 

“So, what’s the argument this time? My living arrangement, how well I eat, how far away from the family I am?” he asked, moving to give both of them a hug before he dropped onto the well loved couch. 

" _Laura_ seems to believe that I am stuck in the 18th century because I want you to find a mate through the Run, instead of some place else," his mother began, eyes glaring at her eldest daughter

" _Talia_ is under the impression that the Run is the only time you can find a mate," Laura replied, fixing Talia with a creepily similar glare. 

Instantly, Derek regretted his decision to come inside and not go and crash at a friends house. This had been the same argument for the past few years. Both of them wanted the same ending for him, happy and fat in a house full of progeny for the Hale name to carry on, but they wanted it to be different ways. Talia was stuck on the romantic idea of finding a mate during the Run, and Derek had to concede that the Hale family was notorious for finding their mates in the Run. They had the highest success rate with the lowest divorce rate. It worked. Derek was just picky, and despite having been in eight Runs, he hadn’t found someone yet. 

It had only gotten worse when his youngest brother had found his mate in the first hour of the Run last year. His family had turned into a bunch of nagging fishwives in his opinion, he was fine with how things were. 

"To be fair to Mom, everyone else has found theirs at the Run, you found Roger a few years ago," he pointed out. That got him a glare from Laura, and a smile from Talia.

"It's not fair to you though," Laura said, beginning to gear up into an argument. "You are so focused on finding someone through the Run that you can't stop and take a look around you back in Sacramento. You could have met your mate already, and then passed them by because they never went to the Run, and now you’ll never get the chance.”

Laura was red in the face by the time she was done, breathing heavily as if the world was on her shoulders. Even Talia had fallen silent, watching Derek carefully. Laura and Talia had always been two peas in a pod, preferring to use intimidating and long game plans to get what they wanted. However, Derek had always been the favorite of both, he was the little brother who didn’t mind getting bossed around by Laura, and as far as Talia was concerned he did everything _right_. He had learned to control his change during puberty, had played sports, graduated high school with good grades, had gone to college, gotten his bachelors and was now working his way towards a PhD. He did what she expected and right now, she was looking at him like she was expecting him to do it again. And despite how much he loved his older sister, Derek never disappointed. 

"I look when I’m there, Lou. I've been on some...dates," the words were said with a careful look at his mother. She didn't respond. "And if I meet someone they can participate in the Run, and I can officially mate with them there, you know Mom would let them in," he said.

Laura crossed her arms over her chest. "I just want you to be happy, you're the only one left."

Derek shrugged his shoulders. "I know, but unlike the rest of you I always did prefer to be alone."

Even Talia sighed at that, looking at her oldest son with something Derek could only describe as fond pity, almost as if he was torturing himself. It was the opposite; his ears had always been more finely attuned that the rest of the pack, and being around them had been hell growing up. Things had never been quiet, every noise had filtered in and most nights he had gone to be with a headache. As more babies were born, it had only gotten worse, the shrill cries boring into his skull at night, making him snappish and caused him to hold an intense dislike for all things small and newborn. It was only when he was truly alone that he had felt at peace, the headache receding and leaving him with a free mind. Moving away had been the best decision he had made, especially once he soundproofed his apartment. Despite the wolf's cries of more company, the peace was needed some days. 

"I'll be fine," he found himself saying. "I know there's someone out there for me, it'll happen," he said making sure to smile at both of them. He could hear their hearts beating a bit faster, and he knew they were gearing up once again to try and make him see their way.

He stood up quickly, smiling once again at both of them before stretching his arms over his head. "I love you both, but I'm tired, the 's tomorrow, and I need to rest," he said leaving quickly after that.

\---------------------------

The day of the Run dawned bright and clear and Derek looked at the sun as if it was mocking him, being bright as cheery where his mood was anything but. He hadn’t gone to the parties last night, but that didn’t stop him from being able to hear _every. single. noise_ and he had woken up with a headache as a result. Despite doing his best to get rid of it (and at this point in time he had a collection of techniques and none of them had worked) it had persisted, and had only made his mood worse as the day wore on the people got louder. The meeting place was in the front of the house, and as the varying packs grew, the noise level grew until it was a sharp noise in his ear, a buzzing he couldn’t remove.

He knew the time for his part of the Run to start was soon, and the idea of burying himself in his closest under a pile of pillows seemed like the best decision, until he realized he could get to the caves today, he could go for the run and end up at the caves and it would be silent there, or as near to silence as he could get in the woods. This was enough to get himself to stand up, not bothering to change out from the basketball shorts he had slept in, stopping only to throw on a shirt before he was downstairs and outside, standing next to Laura and scowling at everything that looked his way.

It was a testament to how he looked right then that even Laura didn’t comment on his appearance right then. He didn’t pay attention to his mothers speech, sure it was about finding true love and to remember the rules, if they were in the safe zone that meant no, don’t bite any of the humans, no meant no and yes means come back we have free lube and condoms. Although, she had said it more romantically, talking about the bond and making sure to register with the Town records keeper. Derek preferred the more Spartan version of it, the one his Dad had told him when he was finally old enough to participate. It removed the romance from it all, and he found he liked that.

His mother let out the howl to signify the start and Derek winced at the clanging that was suddenly in his ears. He heard the howls, yips and ripping sounds associated with the start of the run. He didn’t race off right away, not in any mood to find someone today, and not willing to fight with the crowd to try and find their mates as soon as possible. He took a step down the steps to land on the soft dirt below, and was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked up at his Mother who was smiling at him. It took a second for him to realize that his headache was going away, and he then noticed the black lines running up her arms. 

He smiled gratefully at her, turning and giving her a hug. “Thanks.”

Talia smiled back at him before shoving at his shoulder. “Get going, don’t want them to get snapped up do you?”

Derek shook his head and turned, shifting into his beta form and taking off at a run. It felt good to run then, a lot of the noises over powered by the wind rushing past his ears. As soon as he was away from his parents, where even his own hearing had issues, he made a beeline for the caves he knew were on the west side of the land. They were further away than a lot of other things, but the silence would be worth the fatigue he would feel after.

He didn’t know how long it took him to run there, the sounds of mating began to echo through the forest about half way through his run, and on more than one occasion he stumbled across some couples that were clearly enthused to be together, if the sounds and smells were anything to go by. He was getting closer when a particular smell struck him, cotton in the wind and fresh cut grass and he stopped. He took a step towards it, inhaling and was struck by how _good_ it smelled. 

It was coming in the opposite direction of the caves and he looked at them, and looked back towards where he had caught the whiff of the scent and he looked between them, not sure which way he wanted to go. He took a step towards the cave and suddenly the scent was more potent, and he couldn’t resist it anymore. He took a step towards it, followed by another one and suddenly he was running as fast as he could.

He felt out of control, in a way that he hadn’t even felt before and he didn’t know if he liked it or not, it was as if the wolf he had been one with was suddenly a separate entity and was trying to find control and take over. Derek fought with himself, shaking his head to keep himself together, but it was harder with each pocket of the smell, more potent than the last. They began to come faster and faster, the smell almost a trail now and he let out a howl, hearing a few answering calls but they were all behind him, they weren’t in the right direction.

He put on a burst of speed the wolf suddenly taking over and he could feel the shift happening as he dropped onto four legs, lengthening out, the forest a blur as he ran faster and faster towards whatever it was. Whatever he was chasing was fast, and even though he could hear the rabbit fast heartbeat, he could only catch flashes of pale skin mixed with plaid, but the scent was right _there_. It was so tantalizing, and it was _right there_. It was making his mouth water, his heart race and his entire body felt warmer than it had a second before. He felt alive, in a way he hadn’t been before this moment. He could smell other things right now, oranges, cinnamon, warmth, home, family, happiness and the undercurrent sour lemon of nerves. All of it was rolled up into one mystifying scent that left him with nothing but _want_ , a want he was having trouble denying, despite his rational mind telling him no. 

A bend and he flew into an open plain, the body ahead of him suddenly in view, but he still wasn’t close enough. He put a push of speed on, his body lengthening out and he could feel the burn in his legs, but he was drawing closer and closer until one last jump had him landing on the back of whoever was running and the two of them went down, and he shifted back into his human form, uncaring of his nudity now. The scent was right there, he could _smell_ everything, and it filled him with the sort of euphoria he had never felt before. 

He could feel an insurmountable joy fill him as he looked down at the owner of this scent. He didn’t know where to look, everything on the boy below him seemingly larger than life. He blinked and his gaze focused, drawn into wide brown eyes that he wanted to see closed in ecstasy and wide open in surprise, his mouth open wide, pink and inviting. He was panting, out of breath, each exhale sent a breath over his face, the lingering mint from his toothpaste almost overpowered by whatever sweet fruit the boy had eaten that morning. Derek took a deep breath, wanting to catalogue everything about this boy, about _his boy_. His skin was pale, begging for his marks, and the smattering of moles across his face trailing down his long neck acting as a series of bread crumbs for him to follow. 

He leaned in close, his nose pressing against the tendon against the side of the boys neck, inhaling the scent, pure and sweet, the cotton and grass mingling and causing the wolf inside of him to almost _purr_ in ecstasy. He trailed his nose down the side of his neck, before moving back up, tongue pressing out to taste. He let out a noise at the first rush of flavor across his taste buds, unable to help himself. He felt hands grab his shoulders suddenly, and he could almost feel the tension as fingers dug into his skin, both holding him in place and pushing back.

He raised his head and finally met the boy’s almost impossibly wider eyes and he leaned down, their noses touching as he just watched. His vision was blurring a little bit, but he didn’t care, he never wanted to look away. He could spend his life looking at this kid, this fresh-faced boy who had suddenly captured his attention. He felt the fingers curl into his shoulders, and the boys chin tilted up, baring his throat and Derek took the bait, pressing his lips against the smooth skin, tongue flickering out to taste his skin again. Both of them moaned and one of Derek’s hands moved, fisting in the boys shirt and pushing up. 

Suddenly his world tilted and he was staring at the sky, the boys face burned into his mind. He rolled to his feet and looked around, suddenly seeing the boy a few feet away, hands up in front of him, shaking his head. The boy took a slow step back, and Derek could see the slow burn of gold ring his eyes. _Omega_. He took a step forward, and the boy took another step back. 

“Please don’t. Not now.”

The first time the boy spoke and Derek was done, his voice sounded like honey to his sensitive ears, a soothing balm that nothing else would ever be able to fix. But rationality was beginning to take over and he looked at the boy. He knew he could feel the want in the boy when they had been pressed together, the thin shirt and shorts the boy was wearing the only distance between them. He hadn’t been imagining that. 

He tilted his head to the side. “Why?” 

The boy swallowed, Derek’s eyes narrowed in on his Adams apple as it moved up and down, tantalizing. 

“I don’t want to yet.”

The boys explanation was short and to the point, but it didn’t explain anything. _Want._ His words and actions were contradictory and it confused Derek more. “Why?”

The boy took another step back and he shook his head. “I _want_ , but I want school. I need to go to school, I want to and I can’t take the break. I have plans, no one was supposed to chase me today, no one ever has.”

Derek was confused, why wouldn’t people have chased this boy. He smelled like open air and summer, Christmas and a warm fire. He smelled like home. “School?”

The word held meaning to him and the more he talked, the more the wolf moved into a contentment, glad to be talking to _mate_. The word rolled around his head, gaining momentum until it was rattling in there, reminding him time and time again. 

“I got into a good school and a scholarship and I want to go, I don’t want to take the mating year, I just want to go, please, let me go.”

The air was silent as Derek began to struggle and fight, pushing the word mate to the side, trying to regain semblance of control. A hand came up, covering his own face, blocking his nose and he took a deep breath, thankfully only able to smell himself. The fog in his mind cleared a little bit and suddenly the situation was bright and clear in front of him. He shook his head, keeping his hand over his face as he took a step back. He could see the tension leak out of the boy’s shoulders and the arms drop down.

“Sorry.” His voice sounded odd, nasally from where he was holding his nose. “I wasn’t expecting…this.”

He waved a hand between them and the boy nodded, both hands coming to rub over his closely shorn hair. “It’s fine, it’s just. Please don’t let this happen, I don’t know if I can say no again,” he said softly.

Derek could hear the regret in the boy’s words; the sadness and the worry and he shook his head. “No, I no I understand. I’ve got…school…thesis,” he said. He felt like words were hard to get out right now, they were sticking in his throat. His mind still felt muggy, out of sorts with everything right now. He couldn’t get a coherent thought, even with his hand blocking out the boys scent the memories were enough to keep him at odds.

“One day.”

The boys words were sudden and bright in his world, feeling like everything in his future was centered about this one singular point. 

“What do you mean?”

The boy swallowed again and Derek’s eyes were drawn to his neck again. 

“You smell…like the ocean. Like home and my Mom’s pancakes in the morning, you smell right. But I can’t…not right now. I have things to do, and I can’t focus around you, I can’t, I want too but I can’t. I worked so hard…but I want too. So one day, one day but please not right now.”

Derek could appreciate the rationality. “When?”

“In a few years, after school.” The boys voice sounded more hopeful this time around.

“What about everyone else?”

“What do you mean?”

Derek waved his free hand in the direction of his house, of where he knew his mother and Laura would be waiting, wide opens eyes and _expecting_. He had already been gone longer than he usually was. He knew what they would be expecting him to come back, wide smiles and arms around someone who smelled of him. He also knew they were expecting a girl. He had been expecting a girl, but faced with the boy right then he didn’t know why he had ever been expecting anything else.

“My family, they’re expecting…I’m gone longer than I used to be,” he stopped to take a deep breath, trying to ignore the way the boy’s scent was bleeding into his mind again. Was it always this strong? “They’ll be expecting me to come back with someone.”

The boy looked nervous then, and he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know,” he said looking defeated. 

Derek didn’t like that look, it caused a pang in his heart, made him feel like the world was ending and he never wanted to see it again. He wanted to rip the negative emotions from the boys psyche and replace them with love. He shook his head, trying to clear out the overwhelming feelings of happiness right now, trying to replace them with the rationality and control he was known for in his family, trying to think of a way to keep both of them safe from what they didn’t want. 

An idea struck.

“Run.”

The single word and he looked up at the boy who had tensed up again and he knew he needed to explain himself. “Run, safe zone, if I don’t catch you this year, next year. We can delay it a little bit.”

The boy looked unsure, but nodded his head. “Thank you.”

Derek didn’t get a chance to reply before the boy took off, heading back in the direction, long legs carrying him quickly across the field. He took a few stumbled steps forward, the urge to _chase and claim_ overwhelming him. He forced himself to stop, eyes closing and hand clamping tighter against his face blocking the scent and sight from him. There was nothing to stop his hearing though, pinpointing the now familiar rabbit quick heart beat, the sound of feet hitting the ground as the distant grew.

An ache began to form as the sounds got fainter and fainter and suddenly he was moving, body shifting back down onto four legs and the chase was on again. The boy seemed to be quicker this time, more sure as he ran through the brush, Derek on his tail and he caught up again, but he held back this time, enjoying the chase once again. He was trying to hold himself back, even as he saw flashes of that pale skin through the trees. The noises around him seemed to increase as he ran quicker, beginning to smell his house, only a few miles away, the sound of mating couples getting louder and louder than before.

He burst through the trees suddenly; his house looming and suddenly he could see the boy stopping suddenly, and he ran towards the safe zone, his eyes on the boy. He could see his mother moving to stop him and he changed at the last moment, coming to a halt right in front of the border. The smell was gone now, hidden in the safe zone and clarity ran clear in his mind. All of the fog from before was gone, although his focus didn’t leave the boy who was panting, and grinning in triumph. He watched as the boy threw both hands into the air, and he smiled unable to help himself. 

“You’re quick,” he said, feeling normal for the first time since he had caught the scent. 

Whatever unease the boy had shown out there was gone as he walked up to the border, the two of them standing toe to toe right then. Derek was surprised he had to look up at the boy. He hadn’t seemed so tall before, and suddenly boy seemed like the wrong thing to call him, the uneasy look replaced by a cocky grin.

“I got legs for days bro, keeps me moving quickly.

Derek’s eyes traveled down, unable to stop himself as he looked at the boy, looked his fill and saw the long legs the boy was talking before. “Nice legs.”

He looked back up and saw that the boy (Man, he reminded himself) was looking him up and down, and he was suddenly aware of his own nudity, although there was no sense of shame. He was a born werewolf; nudity went hand in hand.

“Nice…everything,” the man said finally, meeting Derek’s eyes again casing him to fight down the urge to preen under his mate’s words, but he fought it down, attempting to find some semblance of control once again. . The ring of gold from before was gone, leaving behind a warm, honey amber color that made Derek feel warm inside, filling him with a sense of home. 

There was silence from where he knew his family was, and it was disconcerting and he knew they would have questions. He had questions and so he took a step back, without breaking the gaze. 

“Next year.”

It wasn’t a question; it would never be a question again, it was a promise, a declaration of the future with the man. The man smiled and Derek’s breath caught, the slowly upwards curl of his lips bringing a sunshine and light to his face that made his heart thud painfully in his chest. He found himself responding to it.

“Next year.”

The same promise was in the boy’s words. Derek took one more look at the man before he turned, walking back to where Laura was holding his clothes in slack hands. He managed to pull his shorts on before he heard the man speak again.

“What’s your name?”

He turned and looked at the man. “Derek Hale. You?”

“Stiles, Stilinski. Stiles Stilinski.”

Derek smiled and nodded his head before turning back to his family.

\---------------------------

It took a few hours after the Run ended before Derek was able to leave, to get into his car and head back to his apartment. It had been hours of questions about the boy, about what had happened and he had just stayed silent, even against the whirlwind of his mother and Laura teeming up. It was a couple hours drive until he got back to his apartment and as soon as he was inside he walked and dropped onto his bed, arms stretched out, eyes closing as he tried to recapture whatever Stiles had smelled like.

His phone beeped at him and he fumbled for it managing to pull it from his pocket without moving too much. Looking at the screen he smiled and rolled onto his back.

 _(1) friend request from Stiles Stilinski_

Pressing accept, he dropped the phone onto his bedside table and closed his eyes. Sleep followed him soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Now comes fully equipped with [tumblr](http://hero-in-waiting.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
